


buddy, by definition

by orbitalknight



Category: Kamen Rider Drive
Genre: Babysitting, Dancing, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26890720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orbitalknight/pseuds/orbitalknight
Summary: In the interest of being a good uncle, Gou Shijima offers to babysit while Kiriko and Shinnosuke take a date night for themselves.Gou Shijima has never babysat before.At least he's not alone in trying.
Relationships: Chase | Mashin Chaser/Shijima Gou
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26
Collections: Best Matched Zine 2020





	buddy, by definition

Kiriko put both hands on Gou's shoulders. "Are you sure you don't want me to walk you through everything one more time?" 

The two of them stood on the stairs leading to the Tomari household. It had been hard enough to shoo Kiriko this far out the door, and Gou was wondering if she'd even actually make it to the car for her date with Shinnosuke. 

"Three times was enough, Kiriko," Gou shrugged her off, tucking his hands in his pockets. "We'll be fine. Food in the fridge, Bandages under the kitchen sink."

Kiriko nodded. "And his favorite movie is next to the TV." She paused as though she was about to speak, probably ask Gou again if he needed the instructions again even though she'd also put them up on the fridge. 

"It's your night off, isn't it?" Gou snuck a look over his shoulder, and could just make out Shinnosuke patting someone on the shoulder as though he'd just finished his own pep talk, "We've got this. Besides, I owe you for taking care of me when I was a little shit of a kid anyway." 

Kiriko's lips smushed into a pouty sort of frown. "You don't owe me anything for that, and you know it. Still..." she sighed, "I suppose it is only a few hours." 

Gou nodded. "Right." He turned Kiriko around and gave her a little push in the direction of the car. "You don't want to miss your reservation, do you?" 

Kiriko turned around, opening her mouth for just a moment, giving the impression she had something to say. She smiled instead, deciding against it, and made her way to where the Tomari's car was parked. 

A few seconds later Shinnosuke walked through the door. He gave Gou a look. "You're sure you're up to this?" 

Gou raised one eyebrow at his brother-in-law. "You and Kiriko don't have much faith in the two of us, huh? You make babysitting sound worse than fighting actual monsters." 

Shinnosuke chuckled. "Fighting is a little more straightforward, you know. But I'd definitely say parenting is more rewarding." 

"That was terrible, Shinn. Awful." Gou was smiling as he spoke. He gave Shinnosuke a pat on the back. "But if you keep Kiriko waiting any longer I might have to kick your ass." 

Shinnosuke shrugged, "Fair enough!" He gave Gou one last wave as the couple drove off. 

Gou returned the gesture and headed inside, locking the door behind him. He wandered through the entranceway and to the living room, where he heard the sound of voices. 

"Can you summarize what makes this media so entertaining?" This voice was low, almost menacing if you didn't know it better. 

Luckily Gou did. He leaned around the corner of the doorway to see Chase, his buddy for tonight's "operation" sitting on the floor holding a DVD box. just across from him on the floor was Eiji Tomari, in racecar patterned pajamas. Gou could only see the back of the kid's head, but he was pretty sure he could guess at Eiji's perplexed expression. 

Gou sat in the middle of the two so the three of them made a little triangle on the floor. Eiji Tomari did look about as confused as expected, and was chewing on his own pajama sleeve to cope with the complexity of the question he'd been asked. 

Gou swiped the DVD box out of Chase's hands. " _ The Legend of the Magic Moon Princess _ ?" He flipped the box over, "Huh. Chase, I think your question was a little too complicated for the kiddo. What's your favorite part of the movie, Eiji?" 

The littlest Tomari stopped munching on his sleeve for a second, pensive. "Prolly the ponies." 

Gou looked at Chase pointedly. "Did you hear that? Ponies."

Chase frowned. "This is significant?"

Gou nodded. "Eiji, correct me if I'm wrong here, but are the ponies... magical?" 

Eiji's eyes went wide. "Yeah! They are!!" 

Gou wiggled the box. "You ready to watch the magic pony movie?" 

Eiji jumped to his feet, then ran headlong for the couch, launching himself onto it with all the force his tiny body could muster. "YES!!" he shrieked at a glass-shattering frequency. 

Chase looked at Gou, who shrugged before inserting the disc in the DVD player. Gou gestured with his head to the couch. "Go sit down. I'll join you in a minute." 

Chase nodded an affirmative and sat next to Eiji, who looked up at the Roidmude with a wide-eyed stare before slowly lifting his pajama sleeve again. "That is not edible," Chase informed the child, gently pushing Eiji's arm back down to his lap. 

Even Gou was sort of surprised he'd ended up here on the living room floor, about to watch a princess movie with his nephew and his once sworn enemy. But he hadn't been roped into it, really, he'd actually volunteered. Kiriko put up with a lot, working and parenting, and she rarely complained. Still, a couple of nights back, around the hour of two AM, she'd sent Gou a text.  _ "It'd be nice to have one night off." _ Gou had been awake at the time, for unrelated reasons, and figured even though he'd never thought of himself as being any good with kids he could probably manage to get along with little Eiji well enough for a couple of hours. 

And he'd have backup, which was reassuring. Said backup was currently engaged in a delicate dance of every few seconds gently dissuading Eiji from eating through the cuff of his pajama sleeve. 

Gou listened to the DVD whirr in the player, doing a little hop to get back on his feet. He tossed the remote control into the air and caught it just as the menu for  _ the Legend of the Magic Moon Princess _ menu loaded up, then pressed play. He bounced back to the couch, sitting on the other end of the couch from Chase and Eiji. The opening credits music played, and Gou didn't think it was half bad. 

The first two times, at least. 

The first watch had been fine. It was a cutesy, cliche-ripe movie, but Gou could see why a little kid would like it. It was hopeful, the titular Magic Moon Princess fought against all odds to defeat her villainous mother and save the universe. Gou could get behind that, for sure. There was a scene where the Magic Moon Princess had to infiltrate a royal ball, but realized she was pretty lousy at dancing and had to take covert lessons from her alien companion/love interest. Chase had been really into that bit. Gou had watched as the Roidmude leaned forward, completely entranced by the animated figures dancing on the screen. It was pretty cute, honestly. 

As soon as the first run was through, Eiji had yelled "AGAIN!" at the same ear-splitting volume as before. Gou had conceded on the condition that he eat dinner while they watched this time. Eiji had informed him that he'd never been allowed to eat dinner in front of the TV before, and Gou said it would be their little secret, ok? Maybe Eiji's Uncle Gou was kinda cool, huh?

Chase had watched the exchange with a degree of bafflement. He took Gou to the side while they were in the kitchen warming up the meal that Kiriko had prepped for them. "Is it really acceptable to violate household rules while we are solely responsible? I do not think Kiriko and Shinnosuke would approve." 

"I was gonna say that we don't have to tell them, but I'm guessing you'll probably want to anyway." Chase nodded. "Right. Well, if we explain why, I'm sure they'll get it. The good ol' conditional reward is the oldest parenting trick in the book."  _ Not that I'd know _ , Gou added, silently. 

Chase tilted his head ever so slightly. "I did not find any books that said so in my preparations for this evening." 

Gou patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Seriously." 

It had worked, to his credit. Eiji had munched through most of his plate by the time they hit the dancing scene again. Chase noted that Eiji hadn't touched any of his vegetables. Eiji contested that they were gross, actually, and he shouldn't have to eat them. Chase argued patiently with Eiji about the merits for a human being of properly consuming vitamins, even as the child's arguments grew increasingly outlandish. Gou was glad he wasn't the one arguing. Even secondhand, the frustration made him want to eat his hands. 

It should've been bedtime after dinner and the second round of  _ Magic Moon Princess _ , but Eiji Tomari was not having it. 

Suddenly, even though he hadn't so much as mentioned it the entire night, he was overwhelmed with missing his parents. Gou did what he did best, which was talk until he could barely feel his tongue, trying to think of reassuring things to say. It was hard to keep going after a while because once Eiji had started crying he seemed fairly set on not stopping. Finally, after an excruciating ten minutes that could have been ten hours, the kid toddled over to the TV set, picked up the  _ Magic Moon Princess _ box, and tearfully held it out to  _ Chase _ . 

When the opening credits rolled for the third time in as many hours, Gou wanted to slam his head into a wall. 

He couldn't do this, and he knew it wasn't even _that bad_. How Kiriko and Shinnosuke put up with it was beyond him. It was hard not to think of Banno, of a man he could never consider his father even as the connection by blood tangled around him like a cobweb, a tangible and disgusting sensation he couldn't shake. Gou couldn't help but retreat into the farthest corner of the couch, as if the distance from Eiji would somehow work to keep whatever part of him might call children failed experiments far enough away to not do any damage. 

Eiji fell asleep about halfway through the movie. Gou exchanged a look with Chase, who simply nodded his acknowledgment, scooping the kid up to get him to bed. Gou couldn't be bothered to turn off the movie, especially when it was all the company he had in Chase's absence. 

"I had some difficulty determining which bed was the right one," Chase said, "Eiji Tomari's bed is identical to Shinnosuke Tomari's bed." 

Gou could almost laugh at that. "What, are they both shaped like racecars or something?"

Chase looked puzzled. "Yes. How did you know?" Instead of staring at Gou until he answered, though, Chase's attention shifted to the TV. The ballroom scene was on. Almost unconsciously, the Roidmude shifted how he was standing to match one of the two characters on screen. His little one-person dance was so awkward that Gou didn't really have a choice but to join him in front of the screen. At first, they were both about as bad at dancing as the Magic Moon Princess herself. After a few minutes, though, the two began to fall into a more natural step. 

"Listen, Chase," Gou spoke, and as ever baring his soul to a machine was easy, "I can’t do this whole… kids thing. If it’s just me I’ll fuck it up. I’m gonna tell Kiriko to find an actual babysitter." 

"It would not be just you, Gou," Chase spoke with such sincerity that Gou could kick him, "That is what buddies are for." 

"If you mean buddies the way Shinnosuke still calls Kiriko his buddy even though they're married..." Gou sighed, but a smile tugged the corners of his lips, "Well, Chase, I think you have to take me to dinner first." 

**Author's Note:**

> LONG TIME NO RIDER FIC!
> 
> Best Matched zines are shipping out this week, so i finally remembered to get off my ass and post this. i miss drive all the more for doing it, though. ;-; 
> 
> remember to kiss your local sad android today! 
> 
> as always, comments and kudos are appreciated!


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